Look to the lights

Take up the challenge to visit New Jersey lighthouses on annual tour

Long before casinos lit up the Atlantic City skies, there was a shining light along the city's shoreline. It was Absecon Lighthouse, completed in 1857.

The lighthouse, which today stands two blocks from the boardwalk and is land-locked, served as a beacon to guide ships and sailors through the dangerous waters of Absecon Inlet, which also was known as "grayeyard inlet."

Absecon is one of 11 lighthouses on the roster for the 9th Annual New Jersey Lighthouse Society's Lighthouse Challenge, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and next Sunday.

The challenge invites visitors to spend a weekend exploring and learning more about the lighthouses and their role in history. Participants will be rewarded with a campaign-style button with the picture of each lighthouse they visit during the challenge, as well as a special button if they visit all 11 lighthouse sites in the allotted time.

In addition to Absecon, they are: Barnegat and Tucker Island in Ocean County; East Point in Cumberland County; Tinicum in Gloucester County, Twin Lights at Navesink, Sea Girt and Sandy Hook, all in Monmouth County; Finn's Point in Salem County and Cape May and Hereford Inlet in Cape May County.

New this year, too, is the chance to see Barnegat Light's original 1st Order Fresnel Lens, displayed at the Barnegat Light Historical Museum, and Cape May Light's original 1st Order Fresnel. which is on display at The Cape May County Museum.

In addition, five of the lighthouses will be open from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 18 for night climbs -- Sandy Hook, Tucker's Island, Absecon, Cape May and Tinicum.

"The Lighthouse Challenge is our biggest fundraiser of the year. It's a time when we get everyone thinking about lighthouses and touring them. In addition to paying admission at some of the lighthouses, we hope participants also will shop the lighthouse gift shops and make outright donations to help preserve the lighthouses," says Doreen Berson, spokesperson for the New Jersey Lighthouse Society.

"Each of the lighthouses is distinct. Absecon, for example, is the third-tallest lighthouse in the United States. (Only the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina and the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse in Ponce Inlet, Florida are taller)," says Berson.

Representatives of the New Jersey Lighthouse Society will man tables at each lighthouse, where they'll distribute a lanyard and lighthouse pins to visitors, answer questions and sell Lighthouse Challenge T-shirts.

Although it isn't necessary to actually go inside each lighthouse or climb to its top, taking the time to explore an entire lighthouse and its facilities is enlightening and interesting.

At Absecon Lighthouse, visitors will see why Dr. Jonathan Pitney lobbied so hard to get the federal government to build the lighthouse. (In the time period from 1847-1856, Dr. Pitney recorded 64 shipwrecks.)

They'll also learn why the lighthouse stands so far from the beach (two blocks) and is surrounded by construction. (Originally, the lighthouse was just 700 feet from the water, but when high tides regularly began covering the corner of the site at Vermont and Pacific avenues -- destroying a portion of the fence and threatening the structure's foundation -- the city built jetties to stem the beach erosion and added landfill to accommodate the town's expansion.

They'll find out, too, that George C. Meade designed and supervised construction of this lighthouse and the Barnegat and Cape May lighthouses, too, before becoming a famous Civil War general.

And they'll also learn more about how the keeper of this light got into hot water for building a greenhouse to supply the lighthouse and gardens with food and flowers. By the time the Federal Lighthouse Board discovered what was going on, they insisted the gardens and greenhouse be dismantled and given over to lawn because it took $700 a year to operate them.

Today, visitors often climb the 268 steps to the top of the light for the 360-degree grand view of the city, casinos and coastline.

But no one has to make the climb. A T-shirt available in the Absecon Lighthouse gift shop lists visitors options. The owner of the shirt just has to put an "x" in the box containing the appropriate phrase: "I climbed ", "I almost climbed," or "I sat the the bottom of" Absecon Lighthouse."

diane.stoneback@mcall.com

610-820-6526

NEW JERSEY LIGHTHOUSE CHALLENGE

What: Visit all 11 land-based New Jersey lighthouses on Oct. 18 and 19 and receive a special souvenir token rewarding your achievement.

Hours: All 11 lighthouses will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. They are Absecon in Atlantic County; Barnegat and Tucker Island in Ocean County; East Point in Cumberland County; Tinicum in Gloucester County, Twin Lights at Nevasink, Sea Girt and Sandy Hook, all in Monmouth County; Finn's Point in Salem County and Cape May and Hereford Inlet in Cape May County.

Special night climbs: Sandy Hook, Tucker's Island, Absecon, Cape May and Tinicum lighthouses also will be open between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Oct.18, and those who visit during those hours will receive a night climb souvenir token.

Extras: Barnegat Light's original 1st order Fresnel Lens will be on display in the Barnegat Light Historical Museum and Cape May Light's original first order Fresnel lens will be on display in the Cape May County Museum.

Cost:: No charge to simply visit the lighthouse properties. However, individual lighthouses charge a fee for visitors to go inside the lighthouses and climb to their tops.